Sonora, CA — Mother Lode residents and retailers who thought they were being sneaky by purchasing cigarettes from out of state vendors, may have to cough up the California tax anyway.
450,000 invoices from Internet cigarette vendors and 65,000 shipping records from out of state mail vendors have been collected by the Board of Equalization.
Reports indicate the records track three years worth of untaxed purchases by Californians. Officials say the board plans to collect the $52 million owed to the state in unpaid cigarette taxes.
Written by Sabrina Sabbagh
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 1:55 pm